


Life in Slow Motion

by Clocks



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Blood and Injury, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Christmas, F/F, Fluff, M/M, While You Were Sleeping AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:26:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24472003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clocks/pseuds/Clocks
Summary: When Erik saves the life of a beautiful blue mutant who winds up in a coma, he's not quite sure how he ends up pretending to be her fiancé.Unfortunately, it becomes harder to tell the truth once he meets her friends and family - especially her brilliant telepathic brother.[A ‘While You Were Sleeping’ AU]
Relationships: Armando Muñoz/Alex Summers, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Irene Adler (X-Men)/Raven | Mystique
Comments: 13
Kudos: 82





	Life in Slow Motion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bettysofia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettysofia/gifts).



> This is a very delayed Secret Mutant gift for [bettysofia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettysofia/pseuds/bettysofia) who had requested for a While You Were Sleeping AU a long time ago. So sorry this is late, I hope you like it!
> 
> [Minor warning for one use of homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs.]

Erik started noticing the blue girl about six months ago. She stood out from the other late morning commuters waiting on the train platform, her lapis lazuli skin and flame-red hair impossible for the eye to skip over. Erik’s fascination with visible mutations meant that he found himself paying her more attention than he would any other stranger, but she didn’t seem to give a shit about him or anyone else gawking at her. Most mornings, she would either be occupied with her phone or frowning down at what appeared to be lecture notes. However, there was one memorable day where Erik - and everyone else on the platform - had overheard her yelling at someone on the phone: “Goddammit, Charles! You just don’t get it, do you?” That had been an interesting day.

Aside from that one outburst, Erik did not know much else about the blue girl. She did not wear much metal: just a silver bracelet with a raven-shaped pendant and, interestingly, an engagement ring she wore on a chain around her neck instead of her ring finger. There was definitely a story there. Erik idly wondered if she had once been engaged to that Charles person.

Despite his curiosity, Erik made no attempt to befriend the woman. He wasn’t the type to chat people up on public transport or in bars (unlike Azazel, who could strike up a conversation with a stranger even at the urinals). Erik’s interest in her was passing and hardly romantic, borne out of the boredom of his long daily commute.

It would have probably continued that way, had Erik not accidentally saved her life.  
  


***  
  


The next-day forecast for Christmas Eve was gloomier than Erik’s mood. There was going to be snow - a fuckton of it - along with the possibility of hail and impossible winds. Perfect weather to be staying indoors, huddled with family or a loved one. But Erik had neither, which was why he was continuously saddled with the holiday shifts every damn year.

Out of the three engineers in their department, everyone unanimously agreed that Azazel was the most deserving of holiday leave, thanks to the arrival of little Kurt. As for Janos, who was single like Erik but came from a large Pentecostal family, he would never hear the end of it if he skipped family traditions for work. So it fell to Erik, who took the shifts without much complaint and comforted himself with the fact that Janos didn’t exactly enjoy spending Christmas being smothered by his numerous aunts. “What about _your_ Christmas plans, Lehnsherr?” Janos asked almost wistfully as he shrugged on his coat, ready to leave the office.

“The usual.” Erik was trying to finish his overdue reports, although he wasn’t sure exactly who would be waiting to read them on Dec 23rd. Every time he sent out an email, he received a flood of out-of-office notifications from more than half the department. “Netflix and Chinese food.”

“Those aren’t real plans.” But Janos’ tone was teasing, not scornful. “Ay, I can see it now. Old Man Lehnsherr, chowing down on _lo mein_ and orange chicken while binging Peaky Blinders in his sweatpants.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Erik tapped blandly at his keyboard. “Sweatpants are entirely optional.”

The look of disgust on Janos’ face was enough to make Erik grin. “Ugh, don’t-- mental scars! I’m making you pay for my therapy.”

“Just send me the bill,” Erik said with a yawn. “See you, Quested. _Feliz Navidad._ ”

To his surprise, he heard footsteps drawing closer, and Janos dropped a sleek envelope on his desk. “Happy holidays, idiot.” He sounded all too fond, clapping Erik on the shoulder before leaving with a backwards wave. Erik frowned down at the envelope. A present? They’d all agreed to stop doing gifts this year, but Janos was generous like that. Hardly unsurprising. Still, Erik ignored the siren call of the envelope for now.

Erik sent off the last of the reports before curiosity finally got the best of him. Tearing open the gift, there was a little note inside from Janos, thanking him for always falling on the grenade and working the holiday shifts. Surprisingly, it made Erik’s throat tighten with unexpected sentiment.

Inside the envelope, there were two tickets to Dazzler’s sold-out concert on New Year’s Eve, where she would be performing with the Genosha Symphonic Orchestra. _Bring a DATE!!_ Janos had written, with ‘date’ cheerfully underlined several times. Erik scoffed to himself.

 _Ah, what the hell_. Erik slid the tickets into his desk drawer and began the laborious process of shutting down his ancient work PC. Even if he was alone, he didn’t want to stay at the office any longer than necessary.  
  


***  
  


When Erik’s phone alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 6am on Christmas Eve, the entire city of Genosha was blanketed in snow.

Despite the overwhelming temptation to linger in his warm, comforting sheets, Erik’s incorrigible work ethic - drilled into him after a lifetime of minimum wage jobs - forced him out of bed. Stumbling to the shower, he shoved his face under the warm spray of water and mentally planned out his day. His list so far: grabbing a coffee, checking the circuit breakers for Tracks 15B - 30A, keeping an eye on the emergency alerts in case the snow caused any problems for the city’s transit systems. Then afterwards, back home to his planned Netflix and Chinese takeout, as he’d promised Janos.

It was almost light out by the time Erik left his apartment, his mother’s scarf wrapped around his neck to fight the chill. It was one of her few belongings that he could bear to take out of storage and use from time to time, and it was already starting to fray at the edges. He tucked the ends into his pea coat, running down the familiar stairs to the 102nd Street station and avoiding someone’s spilled coffee on the platform, the ever expanding puddle dripping onto the tracks.

The entire station was almost deserted, except for two other regulars standing on the platform, buried deep in their copies of the _Genosha Times_ , and a homeless man huddled on one of the benches. Erik tucked some bills into the man’s coffee cup, waving away his muttered “thanks” as he headed for his usual spot to wait for the 7.15 train downtown.

The click-clack of boots echoing through the platform made Erik glance up in surprise. It was the blue girl, descending the stairs while frowning at her phone screen.

 _Why is she out here on Christmas Eve?_ Erik couldn’t resist another curious glance. No laptop in her bag, so she wasn’t going to-- college? Work? The only metal she had with her were her phone, her keys and that ever-present engagement ring she wore around her neck.

“Hey Joe, check out this fuckin’ freak!”

The hackles on the back of Erik’s neck rose instantly. After a lifetime of slurs, Erik was already attuned to that particular mocking tone that accompanied all the hate that had ever been spewed at him: _Jew, mutie, faggot, freak._ He clenched his fists, ready to defend himself if necessary.

Except-- the voices were getting fainter, and Erik realised they were heading towards where the blue girl was standing.

There were three men surrounding her in a semicircle, taunting her and laughing when she simply ignored them. She stalked away to another section of the platform, but they merely followed her, crudely commenting on her blue scaly skin. Erik was contemplating whether to step in when the blue girl proved she could more than hold her own. She suddenly slapped one of the men, then swiftly turned and kneed another in the groin, making him groan and collapse.

“Mutie bitch,” the third man snarled. He had his hand raised to hit her, but she shoved at him and his friend shoved back violently. Slipping on the puddle of spilled coffee, she yelped and tottered backwards, flailing over the edge of the platform before she disappeared from view with a loud ‘thunk’.

“Fuck!” The men were staring down at the platform in panic. “Fuck fuck--”

Erik was running over before he could even think, and the frightened men quickly scattered when they saw him, fleeing up separate flights of stairs. There was no time to pursue them as he had to focus on only one thing now: the unconscious blue girl, sprawled out on the tracks.

There was a low, approaching hum echoing through the tunnels. A panicked Erik held up a hand and sensed the speeding, oncoming heft of a train only seconds away; it was an empty off-service train, which would roar past and _not_ stop at their station.

“Press the emergency stop button!” he yelled to another frightened commuter who had run over to help. She did as he commanded; now the tunnel was filled with the deafening screech of the emergency brakes. However, it was not quick enough. The train was already pulling into the station so quickly that Erik could even make out the shocked face of the driver.

What happened next happened so fast that Erik did not even have time to consider his actions. He leapt down onto the tracks, flung up both hands and _pushed_ back as hard as he could with every single ounce of his power, harder than he’d ever pushed in his life.

People were shouting on the platforms. The train was screeching to an unnatural halt, sending sparks flying everywhere. The tracks groaned and bent to Erik’s will. Distantly, he could hear someone screaming themselves hoarse. It was only when the train had come to a complete stop that Erik realised it was him, his throat on fire and his hands shaking with exertion. He collapsed to his knees, hovering over the unconscious blue girl. A subway employee had climbed down onto the tracks to join him, checking on the blue girl’s pulse and asking questions Erik wasn’t registering.

Erik was still swaying, distantly aware that someone was repeatedly asking him, “Hey buddy, you okay?” before everything went black.  
  


***  
  


There were voices above his head, worried and shouting voices that were telling people to make way. Erik slipped back into the darkness and thought he’d felt his mother’s hand on his forehead, brushing back his hair, her soft voice singing him to sleep.

He regained consciousness in a room with harsh white lights, jerking awake when he noticed there was someone standing next to his...bed? It was a young red-haired man in blue scrubs, a stethoscope slung around his neck as he scribbled something on a clipboard with Erik’s name on it. In fact there were _many_ people in scrubs running about, pushing gurneys-- fuck, Erik was in the hospital. He groaned weakly, remembering the last time he had been here.

The young man’s eyes widened when he noticed Erik was awake. “Hey, feeling better?” he asked Erik in a cheerful, husky voice. His name-tag read ‘S. CASSIDY’.

Everything came rushing back to Erik with the force of an avalanche, making him wince. The blue girl - Erik had to make sure she was safe. “Where is she?” Erik demanded, hardly trusting her welfare - and his own - in the hands of institutionalised medicine, not after the recent Trask scandal.

Cassidy nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, Raven’s stable, bro, she’s in ICU--”

“I need to see her.” Erik was pushing himself out of bed and onto his feet, fending off Cassidy’s concerned hands. “I’m fine, leave it--”

“You just stopped a train with your bare hands, then collapsed,” Sean protested, as Erik waved away the IV drip needle from his arm. “I can’t just let you get up and, like, waltz off to find your friend.”

An idea struck Erik. “Raven is not my friend,” he said, pausing to consider whether this Cassidy fellow would let him see her if Erik lied that she was his girlfriend. He couldn’t say they were married, it was too easy to disprove. Besides, neither of them were wearing rings--

Then Erik remembered the engagement ring she always wore on a chain around her neck.

“She’s my fiancée.” Erik was relieved for the desperate tremor in his voice, which helped to add some verisimilitude to the situation as he glared at an open-mouthed Cassidy. “So are still you going to keep me from the woman I love?”

“Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t--” Cassidy’s face turned brick-red as he quickly shoved aside the clipboard. “Okay look, let me quickly make sure you don’t have a concussion and then I’ll take you to see her.”

Erik vibrated with impatience as Cassidy checked over his vitals. He was desperately trying not to think about Trask’s people already getting their hands on Raven, like all the other mutant patients they’d kidnapped for experiments and biological warfare research. Although the article in the Genosha Times had stated with certainty that the last of Bolivar Trask’s people were already in jail or at least facing charges, Erik couldn’t shake the fear that there were still people out there who wanted to get their hands on mutant DNA for nefarious purposes. The black-white images in the article still haunted him, like his mother’s drawn, pale face engulfed by the wide berth of her hospital bed.

Erik hated hospitals.

Cassidy was as good as his word. Once he was relatively satisfied that Erik wasn’t going to faint again anytime soon, he brought Erik up to the ICU. Raven’s ward was guarded by a few policemen and a nervous staff member from the Genosha Transport Authority.

Erik was flooded with relief when he spotted Raven through the glass windows, her blue skin a stark contrast against the crisp white sheets of her hospital bed. The claw of anxiety in his chest was starting to abate a little, letting him breathe normally again.

He could hear Cassidy introducing him and explaining the situation, as well as the police officers’ sharp inhales when Cassidy confirmed that Erik was the one who’d saved her life. None of them batted an eyelid at the fiancé story, because Erik knew that they already had Raven’s engagement ring among her personal effects.

“Course he can see her,” one of the officers said, waving Erik through with a sympathetic smile.

Up close in the ward, Raven looked even more frail and vulnerable in the cocoon of her hospital bed. Machines loomed behind her, beeping reassuringly while displaying numbers that meant she was alive, at least. Cassidy was trying to briefly explain those numbers to Erik, who just sat down and nodded and stared at Raven with a conflicting swirl of emotion sitting heavy in his chest. He barely knew this girl, didn’t even know her last name. But he would be damned before he allowed Trask or any of his ilk to get their hands on her or any other mutant.

Suddenly there was a swell of noise before Erik could get to his feet, a mad clatter of rushed footsteps and worried voices that invaded the ward despite the protests of the police and the staff. A surprised Erik could only watch as a group of young people - _other mutants_ , he realised, spotting a girl with a shock of white hair - crowded into the ward, exclaiming over Raven as they gathered at her bed, their faces worried or stained with tears.

“Oh my God.” A young Asian girl was staring down at Raven, her eyes reddened. “She looks so pale.”

“I’m really sorry guys, but only family are allowed,” Cassidy said apologetically.

“Raven’s family are on their way right now,” a tall African-American man assured him. “We’ll wait outside, if--”

“We’re family too, Darwin,” his blond jock-type friend snapped at him. “We have every right to be here.”

Now everyone was talking at once, protesting and placating and demanding answers. Erik silently stood up and stepped further back into the shadows, wary and unsure of his welcome, but relieved that Raven was at least no longer alone. He glanced at his watch; it was already twenty minutes past his supposed shift, but no one had called or texted him yet to find out why he was missing. Which wasn’t surprising, given that he would have been the only person at the office.

Cassidy was in the middle of trying to - unsuccessfully - herd everyone out when a new group of people arrived at the ward, causing a sudden hushed silence. It was a middle-aged couple, the woman in a long, flowy red dress and a mink coat that looked like it cost more than what Erik made in a year. The grey-haired man was similarly expensively-dressed; Erik could sense with his powers that the man’s watch and glasses were of exquisite European craftsmanship. There was someone else behind them - Erik could make out the frame of their wheelchair - but they were blocked from Erik’s view.

“Mr and Mrs Xavier,” the one called Darwin said respectfully, stepping back so they could pass. So did everyone else, as if on cue, parting for them like the Red Sea.

Mrs Xavier’s lower lip quivered as she stepped up to Raven’s bed, her expensive heels clacking loudly on the bare hospital floor. “I’m her mother,” she said to Cassidy in a crisp British accent that took Erik by surprise.

“And I’m her stepfather.” Mr Xavier’s low New York drawl was also unexpected. “Please, tell us how she is.”

“Okay, everyone else out,” Darwin announced firmly, tugging out his reluctant friends who followed his lead.

The room was now less claustrophobic as people started to filter out, and Erik decided this was his cue to follow and vanish into the streets, since Raven was now in good hands. He gathered his coat, about to make his exit when Cassidy frowned at him and said, “You don’t have to leave, Erik. You’re considered family.”

There was another bout of stunned silence as about ten different pairs of eyes landed on Erik and finally noticed him for the first time. He froze mid-step, wondering how the hell he was going to explain this away. “Wait, who is this?” the blond kid demanded to know.

Cassidy shot him an unimpressed look. “That’s Raven’s fiancé, Erik.”

To say that everyone’s jaws dropped was an understatement. Even Mrs Xavier, who seemed too refined to resort to slack-jawed gawking, was staring at Erik with eyes as wide as dinner plates. “No way,” the young woman with white hair said, blinking at Erik in surprise. “We never heard--”

“But she did say--”

“She never gave details--”

“How do we know--”

Everyone was starting to talk over one another, and Cassidy gestured urgently at the police officers. They waded in to try and control the commotion, but Erik was hyper-aware that Raven’s family and friends were all still gawking at him, shocked and suspicious and overwrought with worry. The policemen were trying their best to get everyone to calm down, except for one officer who quietly asked Erik if he could take his statement. Erik nodded, numb and grateful for the diversion.

“May I ask, why do you need to take his statement?”

This voice possessed the same crisp British accent as Mrs Xavier - but it was male. Erik finally spotted the person in the wheelchair behind Raven’s parents, a rather attractive man who was dressed in tweed and appeared to be a few years younger than Erik. He had longish, wavy brown hair, his eyes boring right into Erik’s. They seemed especially blue in the harsh hospital fluorescent lights.

“Erik is the one who saw it all happen at the train station,” the police officer explained. “He might be able to identify the perpetrators who pushed Raven from the platform.”

There was a sharp gasp from Mrs Xavier, as well as Raven’s friends watching from the doorway. The young man in the wheelchair exhaled deeply, his face stricken with such pain that Erik had to look away.

“Then, how did she--” Mr Xavier trailed off, reaching out to touch his daughter’s shoulder for reassurance. His hand was shaking.

“Erik saved her life,” Cassidy said proudly, as though he’d been the one who performed the deed. “He jumped onto the tracks and stopped the train with his powers.”

Erik was suddenly very aware that the whole room was staring at him. Again.

“You jumped on the tracks?” Darwin repeated, his eyes wide with shock.

“And stopped it with your powers?” The blond jock was gawking at Erik, but with awe and reluctant respect this time.

Everyone was talking a mile a minute again, and Erik wagered that he wouldn’t be getting out of here anytime soon. He sent a quick text to Janos, who could fill in for him first - at least for a few hours - while this whole mess got sorted out. Once they learned that he wasn’t Raven’s fiancé and had taken his statement, he would surely be free to go.  
  


***  
  


The Xaviers - as well as a reluctant Erik - were briefed on Raven’s condition, and Erik pretended that he understood whatever the doctor - a tall, bespectacled specialist named McCoy - was saying. To his surprise, the man in tweed nodded along and asked complex questions that indicated he understood all the medical jargon McCoy had spouted, and McCoy seemed pleased, eager to speak the same language. From what Erik was able to follow, Raven’s brain waves were promising despite her head injury, her condition was stable and they were going to send her for all the necessary tests and scans. They expected her to wake up soon.

It was good enough for Erik.

Once McCoy had finished appraising the Xaviers and left the ward, the man in tweed turned his chair towards Erik and flashed him a tired, apologetic smile. “I’m Charles, Raven’s older brother,” he said, shaking Erik’s hand before gesturing at his parents. “This is Brian and Sharon Xavier.”

“I wish we were meeting in better circumstances,” Brian said sincerely, shaking Erik’s hand as well. “But I’m glad my daughter has you in her life.”

“Yes, about that--” Erik began, but his mouth mysteriously stopped working on its own accord. He frowned.

“It’s been a long time since we saw Raven,” Sharon said, her hand brushing back Raven’s flame-red hair. “We didn’t know about you, so-- I do apologise if we were taken aback at first.”

“And to think we almost lost...” Brian’s head dipped as he discreetly wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

“I’m going to get everyone some water,” Charles said quietly, turning his chair towards the door before he looked over his shoulder at Erik. “Would you mind showing me where the nurses’ station is, Erik?”

Erik found that his mouth could work again. “Yeah, sure.” He followed Charles out of the room, mystified and slightly troubled.

The ICU was quiet and peaceful again, since Raven’s group of friends had been banished to one of the waiting rooms downstairs. Erik was still taking it all in - he hadn’t ever seen so many mutants in one place before, their friendship obviously thicker than blood if they’d all run over to the hospital at the drop of a hat just to see Raven. The only other mutants Erik knew closely were Janos and Azazel at work, as well as Emma whom he’d known forever, so it didn’t feel like she counted. It felt a little unfair, Erik reflected, that Raven had two families here, while Erik himself had none.

To his surprise, Charles’ chair came to a stop not at the nurses’ station, but in an empty ward. “Let’s go in,” he said, wheeling himself into the ward. None of the staff seemed to notice or tried to stop them, so Erik followed soon after.

“I thought you wanted--” Erik began, thumbing towards the nearby water dispensers.

“Please don’t be alarmed, Erik. I just wanted to ask a question,” Charles interrupted him, his gaze steady and assessing. Erik felt something prickling all over his skin, as though his entire body was suffering a bout of pins and needles.

Erik nodded once, his palms sweaty. He would tell Charles, confess this whole ridiculous charade so he could leave and let Raven’s real family take it from here.

“So, would you mind telling me why you’re pretending to be my sister’s fiancé?” Charles asked politely.  
  
  
  



End file.
